Working Overtime Links to Heart Attacks
By admin on 2015-01-08

A new study has found that staff who regularly work over 10 or 11 hours a day are up to 60 percent more likely to suffer heart disease, media reported quoting Wednesday's European Heart Journal.

Researchers who tracked 10,000 UK civil servants aged between 39 and 61 over 11 years found overtime junkies were more prone to heart attacks and angina -- even when factors such as age, weight and smoking were included.

The increased risk was linked to working between three and four hours extra a day on top of a normal seven-hour day.

The researchers said there could be a number of explanations for the possible link between overtime and heart problems. These include "hidden" high blood pressure that is not always picked up, stress, anxiety or depression, and being a "Type A" personality who is highly driven, aggressive or irritable.

"The association between long hours and coronary heart disease was independent of a range of risk factors that we measured at the start of the study, such as smoking, being overweight or having high cholesterol," said Marianna Virtanen, who led the study at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki and University College London.

Dr John Challenor, of the Society of Occupational Medicine, said: "This study confirms what we know -- that work/life balance plays a vital role in well being."